


Langdyne Week 2018

by Linz2



Category: Ant-Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-07-15 03:21:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16054433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Linz2/pseuds/Linz2
Summary: Day 1: First TimeDay 2: Civil WarDay 3: MissionDay 4: BeachDay 5: Free DayDay 6: DefenseDay 7: Festival





	Langdyne Week 2018

Langdyne Week Day One: First Time

 

The first time was about Cassie.

 

The first time he went subatomic, it was to save Cassie’s life. He hadn’t been scared at all, then. He had expected going subatomic would kill him, and as long as Cassie was okay, he accepted that.

 

But he didn’t die. He was immortal as long as he was in the Quantum Realm, shrinking endlessly through the hellish environment. With massive luck, he found his way out of the Quantum Realm, and continued with his life. But this was completely different.

 

This time, nobody’s life would immediately end if he didn’t go into the Quantum Realm. They needed healing particles for Ava, but Hope or Hank could go to get them too, if he didn’t want to. But he had offered to get the particles without a second thought, and now he was trapped in one little corner of the Quantum Realm. No longer shrinking, he didn’t even get the blessing of his surroundings changing, to remind him he was still alive at all. But the biggest difference was about Hope.

 

The first time had been about Cassie. The second time was about Hope. He was still thinking about Cassie, of course. He was deeply worried for her, but right now Hope Van Dyne filled his mind.

 

Hope was supposed to bring him out, but she hadn’t. Her end of the radio communication was completely silent, too. Something must have happened to her, she wouldn’t just leave him here. Was there an earthquake? Had she been arrested? Had she just died? He didn’t know, and that was killing him in a place where he was supposed to be immortal.

* * *

 

Langdyne Week Day Two: Civil War

 

So, last chapter was a day late, so I’m uploading this one on the same day as that one. This chapter is part of my “Other Avengers” AU, where Scott, Hope, Wanda, Stephen, T’Challa, and Sharon are the original Avengers, and Shuri and Pietro join them in an alternate Age of Ultron. I doubt Civil War would happen in this AU, because I’m not full of shit like the Russo Brothers, but if it did happen, it would definitely affect Scott and Hope’s relationship.

 

“How could you just side with them, Hope?” Scott said in disbelief. They were standing together in the Avengers’ base of operations, an old Stark Industries storage facility that T’Challa had bought and renovated. The many threats to the world simply didn’t stop coming, both from beyond the world and within it, so the Avengers stayed together to deal with those threats. But the collateral damage from their actions was starting to add up, and so the United Nations had come to them with a proposition: either sign papers called the Accords, requiring them to seek permission from the United Nations before missions, or they would be forced to retire. Scott would gladly retire, but for now, he felt as though Hope had betrayed him. Hope, Sharon, Pietro, and T’Challa had immediately signed the Accords. Scott, Shuri, Wanda, and Stephen had refused.

 

“Is there something so wrong with wanting to avoid collateral damage?” Hope said.

 

“No! I want to, too! But you’re conveniently forgetting what happened the last time we worked for a government body. SHIELD used us to get the Tesseract, so they could use it to make weapons of mass destruction!” Scott said.

 

“This isn’t SHIELD, Scott. This is 117 countries, that don’t want us breaking their laws and borders when we feel like it.” Hope said.

 

“It’s all the same…” Scott grumbled.

 

“How can you be so paranoid?” Hope said, shaking her head in disbelief.

 

“The government has been after me for years, Hope. I stole to survive, and I had to live on the run because of it. Then you came to me on behalf of the government, offering to clean my slate, let me back into society, and I find out it’s because you and SHIELD were lying to me and manipulating me. Now they want to control me.” Scott said.

 

“I didn’t know what SHIELD was doing! And the UN doesn’t want to control you, they want to put you in place. Frankly, you deserve it. For someone whose whole thing is about being small, your ego’s become awfully big.” Hope said.

 

“And you’ve become a pushover.” Scott said.

 

“Do not call me a pushover. I will not let anyone control me. But if we want to stay together as a group at all, we have to compromise where we can.” Hope replied, coldly. Tears were starting to well up in her eyes. She and Scott had finally confessed their feelings together months ago, when they had stopped Ultron. They had thought the world was doomed and that they were going to die… then, they would rather be together in death than separate in life. They couldn’t let something like this tear them apart.

 

“Hope? Are you okay?” Scott asked when he saw her tears. He wrapped his arms around her, and she looked up into his beautiful tawny eyes.

 

“I love you, Scott. So much. But I can’t support what you’re doing.” Hope said.

 

“I love you too, Hope. More than anything in the entire world. But I have to do what I think is right.” Scott said.

 

“I know that, Scott. It’s why I love you. But I don’t know what will happen to us if you keep this up.” Hope murmured. Scott nodded.

 

“It feels wrong for us to break up. We’re Ant-Man and the Wasp. We’re partners!” Scott said.

 

“We are. And we both have good points about the Accords. We need to find a way to compromise.” Hope said. Scott hesitated, then nodded again.

 

“You’re right. You always are, and I love it. I’ll try and compromise, for you.” Scott said, leaning forward to kiss her tenderly. Even if the Avengers fell apart, Ant-Man and the Wasp would not.

* * *

 

Langdyne Week Day Three: Mission

 

Inside an old SHIELD facility, everything was silent, with the exception of Scott screaming at the top of his lungs. He and Hope were clinging to Ava’s shoulders as she stormed through the facility.

 

“Why did I agree to this?!” Scott screamed.

 

“Because you don’t want Ava to be torn apart atom by atom, and to cure her we need to find old paper files SHIELD has on her condition!” Hope replied.

 

“I still don’t get why Janet’s healing powers aren’t enough, though!” Scott said, helmet hiding his sickened face. Ava, eager to be cured, ran like an Olympian athlete. Scott was about to throw up if she didn’t stop soon.

 

“That was a temporary fix. Not even Hank, Janet, and Bill know how to cure me for good.” Ava said, before coming to a stop, much to Scott’s relief. “We’re here.” She announced, sticking her head through the wall to investigate. “Guards, in SHIELD gear. Lots of them. Guess this place isn’t as abandoned as we thought.” She scowled, pulling her head out of the wall.

 

“But SHIELD collapsed years ago.” Scott said.

 

“A former agent must have seen Ava a few days ago, and got together with some of their friends from work. They must want to capture her again, and whatever it’s for is definitely not a good thing.” Hope said.

 

“There’s too many for us to fight, and they’ll notice two tiny people floating midair if I try invisibility. You two need to sneak in without being noticed, and I need to get out of here.” Ava said.

 

“Right.” Scott said. He had kept a winged carpenter ant sitting on Ava’s head, and now it flew to his side. He leaped onto it, and flew up to and through an air vent beside Hope. They flew through the vent side by side, and Scott was staring at Hope the whole time.

 

“What’s the matter, Scott?” Hope asked.

 

“Nothing. I just love doing this kind of stuff with you. Love doing anything with you, to be honest.” Scott said. Hope chuckled.

 

“Thanks. I love being with you, too.” Hope said. She didn’t express it, but she was so happy to be with him again, because she didn’t just love being with him again, she loved him. But he had been disoriented and confused when she had kissed him at the pier…

 

“Scott, do you remember what happened immediately after you retrieved the lab?” Hope asked.

 

“Not really. I remember falling into the ocean, and then I was back on land with you.

 

“I see…” She said quietly. They popped out the air vent, right above the files, which were messily kept together in a manila folder.

 

“I’ll get one end, you get the other.” Hope said. They lifted up the folder together. When they were sure the guards weren’t looking, they both made their way to the center of the folder, with Scott still sitting on the carpenter ant. Together, with Hope using her wings and Scott riding on his ant, they both flew up and away with the folder, when suddenly a guard whipped his head around and saw the seemingly levitating folder.

 

“It’s Starr!” The guard said.

 

“Shit!” Scott muttered.

 

“You got disks?” Hope asked him.

 

Scott nodded frantically, surprised neither of them had thought of that before. He fumbled around in his pockets, pulling out a red shrinking disk. Hurling it at the folder, he caught it as it shrunk down to the size of a dust speck.

 

“Since when can she do that?” A guard gasped, running over to the desk.

 

“Get under Ant-ony Hopkins!” Scott said, diving under the ant. Hope dove under it as well, sitting hunched over beside him.

 

“Ant-ony Hopkins? Really?” Scott said.

 

“Yeah. Apparently the real Hopkins was seen breaking all the animals out of a petting zoo in Norway, but he was also in Miami at the same time. Weird, huh?” Scott whispered.

 

“I heard about that. Yeah, it is weird.” Hope chuckled softly. The guard scrutinized the desk, but saw no sign of the folder or of Scott and Hope.

 

“Ugh, we gotta call an exterminator. These damn ants are getting all the way onto the desk.” The guard said, sending his hand plummeting down to crush the innocent Ant-ony Hopkins. Scott and Hope rolled out of the way just in time, and Hope grabbed Scott by his hand, flying them both into the vent.

 

“Do you still have the folder?” Hope asked.

 

“Yeah!” Scott said, holding out the dust speck-sized folder.

 

“Good.” Hope said. They dashed through the vent, but made a wrong turn somewhere. They arrived outside the facility.

 

“Where’s Ava?” Scott asked as he and Hope grew to normal size, retracting their helmets.

 

“Right here.” Ava said, reappearing in front of them. Scott used a blue growth disk to return the folder to normal size, handing it to Ava.

 

“Phew… that was more of a hassle than I expected.” Hope said.

 

“It was exhilarating, though! I kind of want to do that again!” Scott said.

 

“You’re absurd, Scott. We would have died if we got caught.” Hope said.

 

“But we didn’t! And it was fun.” Scott said. Hope rolled her eyes.

 

“What? You still scared of having a little fun?” Scott said.

 

“Absolutely not. I love to have safe and normal fun.” Hope said.

 

“Are you two going to kiss or what? Anyone with a brain can see you two like each other.” Ava said. Scott and Hope stared at her in surprise.

 

“What? We don’t… we don’t… not after…” Hope trailed off.

 

“Are you sure?” Ava said.

 

“Well…” Scott said. “I know I definitely still like you, Hope. But I do understand if you don’t like me back, after the Germany incident.”

 

“Scott, you’re absolutely blind.” Hope said, wrapping her arms around him. Scott’s eyes widened in surprise, and he chuckled to himself as Hope leaned in and kissed him with passion. With both of them lost in each other, neither noticed Ava recording it with her phone, snickering about how much wagered money Luis now owed her.

* * *

 

Langdyne Week Day 4: Beach

 

Scott sat on a beach chair, surrounded by a sandy beach. He had a book in one hand, and a drink in another. He clinked that drink against the one of the person next to him. It was a typical day at the beach for most people, except for a few minor details: the “person” was Ant-onio Ramos, Scott was in the Ant-Man suit while wearing swim trunks and sunglasses over it, and the “beach” was a sheet of cardboard covered in sand, next to a bowl full of water.

 

“Scotty?”

 

“Yeah, Luis?”

 

“What the hell are you doing?”

 

Scott lowered his sunglasses. “The ants and I have been working our asses off for Hank. I think we deserve a break.” Scott said.

 

“Yeah, but why do you need to make your own tiny beach? We’re just a few miles away from a real one.” Luis said, holding back laughter as he watched Scott.

 

“If I go to a real one, the ants will get lost or smushed.” Scott replied.

 

“If you say so.“ Luis said, walking away. Scott sighed peacefully, drifting off into sleep, his ants cuddling up beside him.

 

While Scott was fast asleep, Luis came back to see him, this time accompanied by Kurt, Dave, Hank, Hope, Cassie, Maggie, and Paxton. All eight of them could barely contain their laughter when they saw him.

 

“Oh my god. This is adorable.” Paxton said.

 

“It sure is.” Maggie said, eyes wide with disbelief.

 

“Why do you look so surprised, Mommy?” Cassie asked.

 

“How am I supposed to react when a vague acquaintance of mine shows up and says ‘Hey, your ex-husband sort of has superpowers and is being a dork with them.’? Because that is, word for word, what Luis told me and Paxton. And Paxton doesn’t even seem surprised!” Maggie said.

 

“I knew.” Paxton said.

 

“You’re the last person here to find out, Maggie.” Dave said. Maggie blinked in surprise.

 

“Well then. Don’t expect me to tell any of you if I get superpowers.” Maggie said.

 

“That’s fair.” Kurt said.

 

“Mister Pym, can you shrink us all down so we can play on the beach with my daddy and the ants?” Cassie asked.

 

“I’m afraid not.” Hank said.

 

“No fair…” Cassie sighed.

 

“We can go to a normal beach, though.” Maggie said.

 

“Yay!” Cassie cheered.

 

“We should all go!” Luis said.

 

“Except Scott. He seems pretty happy napping with his ants.” Paxton said. Scott seemed to wake up at the sound of his name.

 

“…What?” He mumbled, before looking up to see everyone staring down at him.

 

“Enjoying your nap?” Hope asked teasingly.

 

“Oh, come on, Luis! This is humiliating!” Scott said.

 

“You brought this upon yourself, Scotty. We’re all going to a real beach, anyways. You want to come?” Luis said.

 

“No thank you. Me, Ant-ony Stark, Ant-onio Ramos, and Gr-ant Gustin will be enjoying our own personal beach together, thank you very much.” Scott said, crossing his arms.

 

“Suit yourself.” Paxton said, as everyone but Hope left to head to the beach. Scott watched them go.

 

“You really do look cute, Scott.” Hope said, patting his head with the tip of her pinky finger.

 

“Thanks.” Scott said, blushing beneath his helmet.

 

“You’re missing out, though. Knowing Luis, someone is going to get buried in sand.” Hope said.

 

“Yeah, well, I can do that with the ants. They’re natural burrowers.” Scott said.

 

“Yeah. Have fun, Scott.” Hope giggled.

 

When Hope came back from the beach a few hours later to check on him, she indeed found him being buried by the ants.

 

“This is so cool, Hope! They caught on to what I wanted to do without me controlling them!” Scott said. Just then, Hope realized what kind of ants Scott was partying with: Sokovian Pygmy Diggers. An invasive and predatory species.

 

“Scott, those ants are trying to bury you alive and suffocate you so they can eat you!” She said, scooping him out of the sand.

 

Scott only had one reply. “That is badass.”

 

Hope sighed with amusement. How could she not love him?

* * *

 

Langdyne Week Day Five: Free Day.

 

So, I was thinking about how the Quantum Realm seems to affect probability…

 

“…And don’t fall into a time vortex, we won’t be able to rescue you then.” Janet finished off her list of instructions for Scott to heed when he went into the Quantum Realm to get healing particles for Ava. Hope stood by a lever, as Scott put his helmet on.

 

“Alright. Going subatomic in five, four, three, two–“

 

Just then, two dog-sized ants burst through the door to the rooftop, scrambling over and unhooking the many wires hooked up to the quantum tunnel. Cassie came running after them.

 

“Ant-ony the Second! Ant-ony the Second Junior! Bad ants, bad ants!” Cassie chastised them.

 

“Oh, great. Now I have to redo all of the wires.” Hank grumbled.

 

“I can help!” Cassie offered.

 

“Thank you, Cassie.” Hank smiled, teaching her which wires to attach to where. Janet patted the ants on their heads. Scott smiled. He may not be biologically related to any of them, but he honestly felt as though he was part of the Pym-Van Dyne family, and even with the limited time they had spent with him, they felt the same about him. Everything was happy, until suddenly Ant-ony the Second disappeared in a cloud of ashes. Everyone screamed.

 

“Ant-ony the Second?! Ant-ony the Second?!” Cassie gasped. Similar clouds consumed Hank and Janet.

 

“Mom! Dad!” Hope shouted, running over to the piles of ash where her parents had stood. She looked down into the streets to see the same thing happening all over the city.

 

“What’s going on?” Cassie asked.

 

“I don’t know.” Hope answered solemnly.

 

“Cassie, get away from here. Find Mommy and Paxton. Take Ant-ony the Second Junior with you.” Scott instructed, and Cassie did so. Maybe the quantum tunnel had released a lot of weird radiation when it was unhooked, and that was causing it? It was unlikely, but right now he needed some sort of explanation. If it somehow was true, he wanted Cassie as far away from the tunnel as possible. He looked over at Hope, before suddenly feeling light-headed. Whimpering Hope’s name, he collapsed into her arms as he fell apart into ash. Hope’s horrified scream was the last thing he heard.

 

Hope felt as though her knees were jelly. She stared down at the four piles of ash in front of her.

 

“What just happened… why…” She choked out. She had just gotten her whole family back, and now they were all gone, and she didn’t know why! She glanced over her shoulder to see that the disappearances were beginning to stop, and noticed Scott’s phone was sitting on the equipment. She grabbed it, using the passcode Scott had given her. “Please be okay, Cassie, please…” She said, opening Scott’s contact list. She noticed that right above Cassie’s name in the list was “Cap”.

 

“Cap? No way. No way…” She said, calling the number anyway. It rang for a while, before picking up.

 

“Scott, I am so glad to see you’re okay. We’re going to need all the help we can get.” Said a voice Hope remembered from old recordings, and modern-day school PSAs, tarnished with heavy guilt and sorrow.

 

“Scott is gone, Captain Rogers. My name is Hope Van Dyne.” Hope replied. There was brief silence on the other end.

 

“Prune-faced son of a bitch…” Steve Rogers muttered. Hope blinked in confusion as to what that meant, before speaking again.

 

“But if you need help, I can help you. I’ll do anything to undo whatever the hell just happened.” Hope said.

 

“Thank you, Hope. Thank you more than anything.” Steve said.

 

Much later, in her Wasp gear, Hope stared in awe at her psychedelic surroundings. She had teamed up with the Avengers, and now finally knew what had happened. An alien named Thanos had made half the universe’s population disappear, and to fix the chaos he had created, they needed to secure an object called the Soul Stone. Now, they were in the afterlife within the Soul Stone. They had nearly done it.

 

“I’ve been waiting for you all to show up here.” A man in a dark blue tunic and a red cloak said.

 

“Stephen? But… we traveled to the past. How are you here?” Tony Stark asked.

 

“Thanos’ actions now transcend time and space. Things have changed. We’re on a path I never even saw. Tony, Steve, Carol, Nebula, Thor, come with me. The rest of you ought to catch up with your loved ones.” Stephen said. Hope nodded, before wandering off in search of a familiar face.

 

“Hope!” Hank’s voice said, and Hope turned around to see her parents smiling at her. She ran to them and sunk into their warm embraces, too overcome with emotion to speak. But as she listened to their words of comfort and reassurance, she didn’t need to.It was only a few minutes, but it felt like a blissful eternity until Hank stepped away.

 

“I’m so glad to see you, sweetie, but now your mother and I need to talk to the Avengers. That so-called sorcerer can claim it’s magic all he wants, but there’s solid quantum physics behind what Thanos did. You and your friends won’t get anywhere without knowing just what sort of stuff is going on.” Hank said.

 

“Of course.” Hope said, wiping away the tears of joy that showed no sign of letting up. When her parents walked away, she could see who was standing behind them. Scott.

 

Hope flung her arms around Scott, kissing him like she never intended to stop. She could see him again, she could feel him again, she could talk to him again, it was a dream come true. He was here, and he was okay, worlds away from the forlorn pile of ash she saw him become.

 

“It should have been me…” Hope sighed.

 

“Don’t you ever say that, Hope.” Scott said.

 

“Scott, I want to be with my parents so much right now. And you don’t deserve this. Cassie still needs you, Scott.” Hope said.

 

“Yeah, but you’re so much smarter than me when it comes to timey-spacey stuff. If anyone can help the Avengers fix this, it’s you.” Scott said. Hope smiled.

 

“You have a point.” She chuckled.

 

“Hope! We have the Soul Stone, we have to go.” Bruce Banner called out.

 

“Kick that ugly alien’s ass for me, okay? For all of us. Then I can say that my favorite Avenger was the one to defeat Thanos.” Scott said. Hope was amused. Her, an Avenger? She couldn’t see it, even it was more or less true.

 

“Of course.” Hope said. She and her fellow Avengers slowly disappeared from the Soul Stone, and Scott watched her with loving eyes the whole time.

 

I’m evil lol

* * *

 

Langdyne Week Day Six: Defense

 

“I told you this was a bad idea, Scott.”

 

“Well, excuse me for not knowing we’d lose our antennae!”

 

Scott and Hope were surrounded by Sokovian Pygmy Digger ants. Pygmy normally meant small, but these were huge compared to the shrinking couple– normal Sokovian Diggers were even worse.

 

Scott had suggested they try making their own ant rodeo– an idea Hope had agreed to out of curiosity. But the antennae on their helmets had been knocked loose, and both of their regulators were broken, so they couldn’t risk growing or shrinking.

 

“Just don’t make any sudden movements, and we should be fine.” Hope whispered.

 

“But then how will we get away? They have us surrounded!” Scott replied.

 

“Ava overheard you talking about the ant rodeo, she’ll try looking for us.” Hope said.

 

“She went shopping a little while ago. She won’t be back for a while.” Scott replied.

 

“Dang it.” Hope muttered.

 

“Maybe we could try growing back? It’s risky, but right now it’s our only option.” Scott said.

 

“No. We’d end up growing forever. Not something to try.” Hope said.

 

“I guess not.” Scott sighed. The ants growled lowly, before slowly closing in on them. “Oh man…” Scott said, before one reared its head up and lunged towards him. Hope leaped in front of him, firing off a flurry of energy blasts from her suit. Roaring, the ant scampered away, its face charred badly. An ant grabbed Hope’s wings in its jaw, so she flipped backwards on it, driving her feet through its thorax. When three ants tried attacking from behind, Hope and Scott grabbed them all by their legs and yanked them into the air, where the Hope could send energy blasts straight through their abdomens. The three dead ants fell to the ground, and Scott shoved them towards the last living one, smushing its legs. He leaped on top of it and punched it right through its face.

 

“Yuck…” He muttered when he pulled his gloved hand out, as it was covered in ant brains.

 

“Let’s never do that again.” Hope said, picking up the torn antennae from their suits. Her wings were shredded, and City didn’t have any carpenter ants with him, so flying wasn’t an option.

 

“Agreed.” Scott said, as they jumped on top of a book on the ground where they had set up the base for their rodeo.

 

“I can put the antennae back on, but only Mom and Dad can fix the regulators and wings. Which means we’re stuck until they get back from setting up their house in Hawaii.” Hope sighed.

 

“At least we’re stuck together.” Scott said. Hope smiled.

 

“I am so using this against you in the future.” She said, resting her head on his shoulder. Scott only nodded, relaxed and sleepy.

* * *

 

Langdyne Week Day Seven: Festival

 

“You know, when I agreed to join the Avengers, I expected I was going to fight evil, not throw candy in parades.”

 

“Actually, we don’t have candy.”

 

Scott glanced at Peter Parker, who had said that in reply to his complaint.

 

“Scott, the world’s still recovering from the whole apocalypse thing. They need a morale boost.” Carol Danvers said to Scott.

 

Scott had to agree with her about that. It had been a few months since the world had been saved from Thanos. Many people had died defeating him, and afterwards many others had chosen to work alone or retire from the superhero scene entirely. The current Avengers lineup was Scott, Peter, Hope, Carol, Wanda Maximoff, Vision, Bucky Barnes, and an Asgardian woman named Brunnhilde. They had agreed to participate in a parade, and now they were waiting for the rest of the floats to arrive, all nine of them in full costume. Scott reflexively flinched when he heard a familiar voice.

 

“Come on, come on! We’re right next to the Avengers, we gotta look good!”

 

“Patrick.” Scott said, eyes widening.

 

“Who’s Patrick?” Brunnhilde asked.

 

“My old coworker from VistaCorp. Then that means…” Scott turned around to see that VistaCorp’s float was right behind them.

 

“You should absolutely rub it in his face.” Brunnhilde said.

 

“Don’t.” Hope said.

 

“I will.” Scott whispered.

 

“Scott, no!” Vision said.

 

“Scott, YES!” Scott replied, grinning.

 

“Oh boy.” Wanda sighed.

 

“Hey! Hey, Patrick!” Scott shouted.

 

“How do you know my name?” Patrick asked.

 

“That’s not all I know! I know that you hated your coworker Scott Lang, and when he got arrested you visited him in jail just to rub it in his face that he’d never get anywhere in life!” Scott said.

 

“How do you know all this? The witch girl is the one that reads minds!” Patrick said.

 

“Because Scott’s an Avenger now, jackass!” Scott said, lowering his helmet and watching the shock fill Patrick’s face.

 

“Well, Scott. Now the VistaCorp float is down by one person, because of you.” Hope said a few minutes later. As the unofficial leader of the Avengers, it was up to her to handle PR, including the mostly negative PR that would come from someone breaking their leg on the road because of them.

 

“How was I supposed to know he’d faint from shock and fall onto the road?” Scott said.

 

“How did you expect him to react?” Bucky asked.

 

“Well…” Scott mumbled.

 

“I don’t blame you, Scott.“ Peter said.

 

“Thank you, Peter. It’s nice to know someone here has common sense.” Scott said.

 

“Whatever, the parade is about to start.” Hope said. And it did. They waved to the onlooking and adoring crowds, while everyone on the VistaCorp float cast dirty looks at Scott. Eventually, they noticed a kid complaining loudly.

 

“Earth’s mightiest heroes and they don’t even have candy to throw.”

 

“Sorry about that, we hope we can make it up to you in world-saving.” Bucky said.

 

“Bucky, that’s rude.” Wanda chastised him.

 

“And the kid has a point.” Scott said. Hope glanced at him.

 

“No, Scott.” She said.

 

“Yes, Scott.” Scott replied.

 

“No.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“No.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“No!” Hope said.

 

“No!” Scott echoed.

 

“Yes!” Hope said, following the pattern. She slapped her forehead when she realized her mistake.

 

“Thanks, Hope! I’ll be right back!” Scott said, shrinking down and hopping onto an ant. Hope rolled her eyes, shrinking down to chase after him. But when she caught up with him, he was already at a candy shop, having purchased a huge bag of candy from the startled cashier.

 

“Scott, you cant just do that. Getting back on the float will be hard, and everyone will be mad that the people we already passed didn’t get any candy, and–“ Hope was cut off by Scott placing a tootsie roll in her mouth.

 

“I don’t want this.” She sighed with it in her mouth.

 

“Then I’ll take it.” He said, grabbing it with his mouth as an excuse to kiss her.

 

“Clever, Scott. But that doesn’t change the fact that–“

 

“You’re the science expert, I’m the people expert, especially with kids. Just trust me on this.” Scott said.

 

Hope paused, before reluctantly nodding. “Alright then, people expert. I’ll take your word for it.”


End file.
